There are times when it can feel like life has been turned upside down. We all have them, but knowing that doesn’t make anything better. It can feel like there’s no solution to your problem(s) and life as you know it will never be the same again, and not in a good way.
The only comfort I have ever found in these circumstances is God. The Bible tells us that God plans to prosper us and not harm us. When I am going through something that feels devastating that is what I repeat to myself and I remind myself of how He has gotten me through everything so far. Sometimes that isn’t enough to calm me down – it’s not that easy. Circumstances can look like life is going to crush you to bits and there’s no miracle that’s going to save you. So that usually leads me to reading or listening to people’s testimonies, reading the Bible, prayer and developing my relationship with God. I guess I’m a baby Christian. I’ve always believed and prayed but never took it farther than that, because I did not know any better.
One good thing about having hard times is that they always get me closer to God and learning about Him. I’ll go through the experience with God and in hindsight see how He helped me through. Sometimes when I get through the hard times, I go back to living how I did before – not really including God in my everyday life or asking how I can be of service to Him. I just get back to work with my goals and ambitions and push Him aside until I go to bed and pray, then pray for all my selfish desires to come true. I rarely prayed for His will to be done. But I did not know any better.
In the past two life-upside-down experiences something wonderful has happened – my relationship with God has strengthened and I’m understanding that He wants more than prayer requests for help. He wants to be involved in every area of my life. He wants to be invited in. Yes, he does want us to ask for help, but he wants to make it clear that it is Him that is helping and guiding. He wants us to be of service to Him and learn how to communicate with him. He wants us to study His word and live by it the best we can. He wants us to talk with him about everything going on in our lives. If we are believers, we can’t just shove him to the side until evening prayer time, or Sunday church.
There’s nothing scary about involving God in your life. I’m finding He’s very supportive, gentle and wants us to live our dreams. As I said though, I’m a baby Christian and have much more to learn. Maybe He’s got something big He wants me to do for him later when I mature and learn how to incorporate Him into my life more. Maybe he’s just teaching me how to be close with him for now and that’s enough.
There’s a certain peace that comes over you when you are involved with God like this. You feel like He’s got you. For years I’ve been feeling like I’m dealing with life’s problems on my own with no support, even though I’m a believer. But I felt like that because I limited Him to prayer time. I’d say a prayer and look for it to be answered in the exact way I wanted it to be answered. I always knew that God’s smarter than me so when a prayer wasn’t answered in my way, He was answering in His way. If I got everything I wanted, I’d probably be more of a mess than I already am. I’m actually not that much of a mess, I’m fairly well put together, but sometimes I don’t make the best decisions and will openly admit that I need God to help me.
The past year has given me many challenges but I’m now closer to God than ever, so I’m glad the challenges have happened. I have felt the Holy Spirit a number of times when I’ve never felt it before. I’ve learned much more of what God wants from me and have committed to learning about Him, and talking about Him to those that are open to hear it. He has me going through a season in my life to draw me closer to Him and I’m excited about it and to see what He’s got in store for me. My faith has never been stronger and nothing can beat that.
So if you are a believer and hard times strike, consider that maybe God is trying to get your attention and draw you closer to Him and bless you with peace and faith. Surrender to the process and watch what He does and/or guides You to do. I’m in the middle of something right now and don’t know the outcome, but feel a peace that God is guiding my life to something better. It’s all completely out of my control – I’ve done and am doing all that I can – whatever happens is in the hands of God and I’m at peace with that. When this situation began, I was not at peace – I had one of those laying on the bathroom floor and sobbing nights, not having any clue as to what I should do so feeling out of control. I pleaded to Him for help and after a while I felt a peace come over me. It was more of a pick up your britches, get off the floor, give it to God and get some sleep peace. But each day with prayer and communion with God, small solutions or actions come to me and I take them with a 100% knowing that God is leading this and I am going to be ok and even in a better place in the end. He sees something that I don’t and is re-directing my path. That kind of peace (and adventure) beats everything.
~ Monica
Please share your thoughts below; I would love to hear them and interact with you. What have you learned in your relationship with God? How do you communicate with Him? How do you hear Him? How has He helped you through hard times? What blessings have come out of your hard times? Any thoughts welcome!
Here are a few of the products available with my art printed on them (by clicking an item you like, it will take you to the page where it’s available). They’d make great gifts to yourself or someone you love and would help support my dream of becoming a full-time writer and artist. Any purchase would be SO appreciated, but if you don’t want to or can’t, that’s totally fine. Just stopping by and reading my blog is a huge support.
Ideas and Advice for How To Live a Joyful and Empowered Life. 
one of the things I grew up with it sticks with me, my mom told me “God would never put what you could not handle on you” that helps me get by during rough moments. I have not gone to church in so long, and I hope to soon now that John is older, I may contain him. over the many years of me being Catholic things has changed traditionally and beliefs, but I also formed my own feelings and thought, I knew I grew up such a strong catholic came out of the closet I was the first person she told knowing that I was so religious while it was a HUGE shock, I was confused and I still loved her, God loves everyone, I know that, I could not hate for anyones choices of lifestyles or even what they are. she was never a religious person, still isn’t, she has not been exposed to church / God growing up, and she is one of the best people ever, she never NEVER judged me. she doesn’t judge, theres God’s work right there now that I think of it. I have so many things to be thankful for, and he has been there forever, while sometimes it is sad that he is easily forgotten or pushed aside, but also to be the best person you can be is what he wants too!
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I totally agree Amber. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have the hope in God’s plan and that all things are working out according to that. There’s been only a few times in my life that I felt things wouldn’t ever get better, but at some point during those times through desperate prayer, I began to feel the comfort that everything would be ok and even better than before, and it happened. When those times happen it’s usually because God sees the bigger picture and is correcting our path and it requires faith to know that. Sometimes I get caught up in life and accidentally push Him aside. It’s usually a hard time that reminds me to get and stay closer to Him, and that’s good in itself.
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beautifully written and I can deeply resonate with your thought. God has all<3
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Thank-you so much – good to know someone resonates 🙂
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Enjoyed your new blog post. If you get a chance can you please lik my new post on Missing People All the best to you in 2020 Thanks Christine
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I read it and enjoyed it 🙂 Thank-you for stopping by!
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Sorry dear I know you did already Have a Great Week xo
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Thank-you ❤
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A wonderful post and very encouraging. Thank you.
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Thank-you for visiting and commenting! 🙂
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My pleasure
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This post describes the past few years of my life in a nutshell. Knowing God is the answer. That following him with every fibre of my being means I’m in a better place. But also realising God is leading me at a pace that I can handle. There are things I desire in this life, but if I don’t include God in those desires they can easily become distorted by the world around me.
The funny way I fund of expressing it is “God can’t not exist.” When I think of all the people he’s put in my life at the right times, when I’ve asked Him for seemingly insignificant little things and He gently guides me to find them. God can’t not exist.
The lesson I’m learning and relearning at the moment is to have patience. To catch myself when I’m sad something hasn’t happened yet. To turn this selfish thought of when I think things should get done over to Jesus, then give thanks. Only through the pain can we realise just how good God is.
Thank you for sharing so much of yourself in these words. ♥
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I’m blown away by your wisdom.
I have learned the hard way that not including God in desires, they can easily get distorted by the world around me, like you say. Then everything turns into a mess because I’m trying to run everything without God.
I understand how hard it can be to have patience. My life has been such a mess in the past due to me leaving God out, that lately I get up in the morning and give my will over to God and ask for His will only, in everything about my life – then participate in whatever happens because I know that must be God because I asked for His will. It’s not like I sit there waiting for something to happen. I take care of all my responsibilities – work, helping family members, cooking, cleaning, taking care of myself – then watch for what’s happening throughout all that to see what God may be doing. Right now I believe He is healing an important relationship in my life and He guided me away from another that wasn’t serving. I am also having strong thoughts of earning my way in this life through my creative pursuits, rather than the job – so He may be behind that also.
The thing is that I am not praying anymore for things I want, because I’ve learned that many of the things I want can really mess up my life. Certain relationships, job choices, etc., I went along and did them without God, then they turned into a disaster. So now, I let God work in my life without asking for anything, then when it comes to a point where I need to make a choice, I pray for God’s guidance and wisdom.
This seems to be turning my life around. It’s only been a few months that I was guided to give my will and life over to God and ask for His will, not mine. A few months ago, my life was chaotic and stressful – I may have gotten sucked into a toxic relationship and ruined my life. I was beginning to have some health symptoms due to all the stress. I prayed every day, but it was for things I wanted. Then I read about wanting God’s will and not mine. Since then, my life is getting better every day and I see a bright future for myself.
Now my prayers are only about His will, not mine and asking for wisdom and guidance when it comes time to make a choice. I also pray for people in my life, but again, asking for His will in these situations.
I do not know if any of this is right, but it is where I’m at on my spiritual journey and it feels so much more like a relationship with God, rather than asking for things I want, like he is Santa Claus.
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That last paragraph is the crux of the matter isn’t it? If we invite God to be present in all we do, we will be present in the most fulfilling relationship we’ll ever have. We will then have more energy to be thankful for all we have been blessed with, rather than, as you say, asking for things like He is Santa Claus. Good will bless us in time, if we are simply present in what He desires for us.
Thank you for being a good human, and sharing so much of yourself so honestly. Peace to you and your family, during this season of Christ’s birth.
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Thank-you Hamish 🙂 ❤ Peace and blessing right back to you
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My heart rejoices to know that you have been drawing close to God in new ways! I know that makes His heart so deeply happy. Blessings on everything He has for you in this New Year!
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Thank you so much Jennifer. Blessings to you too! ❤
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🙂 ❤
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Reading this post was like reading something from my own life. Throughout the last year, I had a lot of personal struggles, and I finally came to the same realization: that it is in those hard times when we grow closer to God. He lets his children go through hard times for the express purpose of teaching them to depend on Him more. This post was such a blessing to me! Thank you for sharing it.
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Yep, as last year continued, getting closer to God was always the answer for everything that happened. Thank-you for visiting!
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